Tag: Motorsports

Having spent several years covering NASCAR and other motorsports in Florida before working for the Lions, Tori’s worlds collided when NASCAR driver and native Michigander Brad Keselowski attended Lions OTAs. She talked to Brad about growing up as a Lions fan and how he keeps up with his favorite team despite his busy life as a NASCAR star.

The No. 43 car’s journey back to Victory Lane has been anything but easy for Richard Petty Motorsports, but on a historic weekend in Daytona the iconic car was a winner once again.

@aric_almirola drove the famed car number to its first win in 15 years in Sunday’s unusual crash-marred, rain-shortened Coke Zero 400. The victory came on the 30th anniversary of team owner Richard Petty’s 200th career win in the same race,

It may have come about under unusual circumstances, but Aric Almirola’s first NASCAR Sprint Cup victory coming at Daytona was something he had imagined for a long time.

“I couldn’t have dreamed of a better place to get my first win,” Almirola said after taking home the checkers in the weather postponed, rain-shortened event. “Of all the places I could pick to win, I would pick Daytona.”

The Coke Zero 400 Saturday night race will become a Sunday morning race after rain post-poned the traditional Fourth of July weekend event.

This isn’t the first time this year Daytona has been jinxed by bad weather. Oddly enough, as this night race turns into a day one, February’s daytime Daytona 500 turned into a night race after a six hour rain delay.

With this year’s Chase format, NASCAR Sprint Cup victories become more and more precious as the opportunities to earn them dwindle with every race, and victory lane real estate at the Coke Zero 400 is looking pretty valuable. This track plays to the strengths of a few drivers who excel at superspeedways, but in stark contrast, is also known for elevating some of the weaker ones with its unexpected nature.

While Daytona is always a prime chance for lower-tier teams to make waves with a win and a Chase berth,

That’s what many teams and drivers chalk up Daytona to be, but at Hillman Racing, they’re not settling for the luck of the draw that is characteristic of this superspeedway. Driver @LandonCassill will start third in the Coke Zero 400 after qualifying was cut short due to rain, but he thinks it’s no coincidence his team will be at the top of the heap come green flag on Saturday.

A 2,400-mile, 9-day, 12-state journey of nearly 100 antique cars known as “The Great Race” ended in The Villages on Sunday.

In a vintage car show meets rally race spectacle, this year’s Great Race followed a route of back roads from Maine to Florida, and thousands of spectators showed out to see the competitors from around the country cross the finish line at Lake Sumter Landing.

Sunday afternoon I went to the finale of The Great Race, a cross-country antique car rally, in The Villages to talk with some of the drivers about the 9 day drive down the eastern seaboard. Legendary NASCAR promoter Humpy Wheeler was there after driving the Fabulous Hudson Hornet tribute car in the race, and I got to talk with him about talks about running the car in honor of his late friend Paul Newman,

The Florida Sports Talk live race broadcast at Citrus County Speedway two weeks ago didn’t exactly go as planned. Technical difficulties at the track forced us to go off air early on, but fortunately, it takes more than that to get the Racin’ Nation crew down! We managed to squeeze in part of my front stretch interviews during the autograph session before we shut down our operation for the night, and it was a blast.

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About Tori

Tori Petry is the multimedia journalist for the Detroit Lions where she serves as a sideline reporter, feature reporter, host and analyst for the team website, detroitlions.com. In addition to online content, she also conducts live post-game interviews on Fox Sports Detroit.

In her spare time, she plays cornerback for the Detroit Dark Angels, a women's semi-pro tackle football league, and is currently enrolled in The Scouting Academy, a course for prospective pro football scouts.

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-About Tori-

Tori Petry is the multimedia journalist for the Detroit Lions where she serves as a sideline reporter, feature reporter, host and analyst for the team website, detroitlions.com. In addition to online content, she also conducts live post-game interviews on Fox Sports Detroit. In her spare time, she plays cornerback for the Detroit Dark Angels, a women's semi-pro tackle football league.